The Art Of Living
by somnambulist29
Summary: (AU)What happens when Haley's other sister comes home? It's (AU) but I weave some of the normal story lines in it, so it will continue to change with the show. Includes the entire gang.
1. The Rivercourt

The Art Of Living

_You should never look down on a sister except to pick her up.-Unknown_

((I don't own anything when it comes to One Tree Hill))_  
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"Lucas, would you just give it up? I'm not gonna let you play basketball so stop trying to get the ball away from me!" Nathan screamed at his brother. Nathan had been playing basketball down at the River Court when Lucas had arrived.

"Whoa, what's wrong with you?" Lucas asked concerned, even though he had some idea of what it was.

"Nothing. It's just… well another one of Haley's sisters is coming down and seeing how well it went with the other one…" Nathan was referring to the infamous Taylor James, the complete opposite of her sister, Tree Hill's very own Haley James.

"Gotcha. Who's coming to town this time?" Lucas asked, pretending to go through a mental list of all of Haley's siblings.

He hated to keep things from Nathan, but he had promised not to say anything. Haley was scared that her marriage was falling apart due to both Chris and Taylor so she had called her sister, and asked her to come down and help her out. Nathan didn't know any of that though.

"Your favorite one." Someone said walking up behind Lucas and covering his eyes with her hands. "Guess who?"

"Ashley." Lucas said with a smile. When he turned around to face the young girl Nathan got his first real look at her. She was younger then they were by probably a year. She shared Haley and Taylor's light honey brown hair and Haley's chocolate eyes. But her face was that of an All-American just like Taylor's. In short she was beautiful.

"Luke!" she squealed jumping into his waiting arms. He spun her around a couple of times and whispered, "I missed you marshmallow" In her ear. She laughed and smacked him.

"Lukie, I told you I hated that nickname." She said rolling her eyes.

"Yeah and I told you that I hated the name Lukie."

"True… so who's your friend?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Hands off Ash. This is Nathan, Haley's husband." Lucas said enjoying Ashley's look of horror.

"Oh my gosh, sorry about that." She said blushing. Nathan found it amazing that she could go from being a vixen to seeming so innocent in such a small amount of time. She was like Haley and Taylor all wrapped up into one. It was really unsettling.

"Don't worry about it." He said offering her an easy smile. She returned the smile and turned to Lucas.

"So what's new with you Luke? Still Mr. Broody Pants?" she asked innocently. Nathan laughed at one of her nickname for Lucas. This girl really was something else.

"Very funny Ash. Yeah, not too much has happened. How bout you? How's New York?" Lucas questioned.

"It's been good to me. No complaints over here. Now are you sure that nothing new has happened? Cause from what Haley tell me you Mister, have had quite the year. Filled with lots of girls and lots of drama."

"You talked to Haley?" Nathan interrupted.

"Yeah…" Ashley said looking confused. She saw Lucas' look of concern she decided that she would have to figure out what was going later. "I went to her place when I got into town. She was the one that told me that Lucas would be down here so I figured I would come and catch up with my favorite guy."

Lucas let out an involuntary sigh of relief. Nathan would be beyond pissed if he figured out that Haley had called Ashley for help and that he had lied to him about it.

"Oh" was all Nathan could say.

"Hey I'm starving. Does your mom still own that café?" Ashley said trying to avoid an awkward pause in the conversation. When Lucas nodded yes she replied, "Great cause I am starving and your mom makes the best food ever. You two wanna come along." When both nodded she began to walk over to her car. She then noticed that both Lucas and Nathan were walking over to Luke's truck.

"Hey Nathan, how bout a ride with your favorite sister in law?" Ashley asked. Lucas told Nathan that he should go, and since he didn't want to be rude, he accepted her offer. Luke drove off hoping that everything went well.

"So…" Nathan started when they were both seated in the car. He had no idea what to say to this strange girl.

"You like Eminem?" Ashley questioned turning up "The Real Slim Shady."

Nathan couldn't keep the smile off his face. It had been so long since he had found someone else in Tree Hill who listened to any type of rap music. They were too punk orientated in this town. The lyrics started drifting through the car and he looked over to see her rapping each line. She was actually kinda good.

_He could be working at Burger King, spitting on your onion rings. Or in the parking lot circling screaming I don't give a f with his windows down and his system up. So will the real Slim Shady please stand up and put one of those fingers on each hand up._

She was about to continue when she noticed Nathan laughing at her.

"What?" she asked giggling.

"You're insane you know that?" Nathan said starring at her. He felt like he could be himself around her and joke around with her.

"Aww come on. You know you wanna sing along." She instigated interested to see if he would actually go along with it. And to her surprise he did. So they sat there screaming Eminem at the top of their lungs.

When they pulled up to Karen's Café they were both cracking up.

"Well that was fun." Nathan said. It had been a while since he had acted like a total lunatic.

"Look Nathan. I know about the whole Taylor drama. She is after all my sister too." Ashley said turning serious. "Just, make sure you take care of Haley. I know that's she probably really stressed and confused. Tell her you love her and just, try and understand where she's coming from. She'd dealing with a lot right now."

"Thanks, I'll definitely think about that." Nathan said still not knowing what to make of this girl.

"You ready to go inside?" she asked. She knew there was a lot more to the story, but she figured this wasn't the place for it. She would wait until she fully understood the situation before she made any judgments. She sure wished someone would do that for her.

Nathan found that he didn't want to go inside. All he wanted to do was get inside her head, to know her story. She like every other person in Tree Hill seemed like she had a past filled with loads of skeletons in her closet. 'Eminem would be proud' he thought to the song 'Cleaning Out My Closet' and the one and only thing he seemed to share with this mystery girl; the love of Eminem.

"Sure." He said with a tight smile. This was going to be interesting.

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	2. Karen's Cafe

The Art Of Living

_The distinction between the past, present and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion. –Albert Einstein_

((I own nothing when it comes to One Tree Hill))

"Ashley?" Karen exclaimed. "How are you honey?" she asked running and giving the young girl a hug as she entered the café.

"I've been good Karen. How about you?" Ashley asked with a huge smile. She had always loved Karen, I mean who didn't? She was one of the few people who could find the good in anyone. After all she had dated Dan, that was quite and accomplishment.

"Same as always. Dealing with this pain in the ass over here." She said, nodding towards Lucas with a smile.

"You're an amazing women to do that." Ashley said with a wicked smirk.

"Hey! I am right here you know." Lucas said with a pout. "Nathan is the only cool one here." He said walking over to his brother.

"Oh Nathan, I didn't see you over there. How are you honey?" Karen asked with a warm smile. She would love to get to know this kid better seeing how he was Lucas' brother and Haley's husband. But with such a twisted past behind them, the progress was slow, but constant.

"I'm fine Karen, thanks." Nathan said with a shy smile. He too wanted to get Karen better. But he knew it'd take some time.

"So anyone hungry?" Karen wondered out loud.

"Yes! Gosh, I never thought you would ask." Ashley exclaimed but stopped and asked "What?" when she saw everyone starring at her.

"I guess some people aren't used to you and the fact that you eat constantly."

"Thanks Tay. And I do not." Ashley said glaring at her sister Taylor. The two of them had never gotten along. Their relationship made Taylor and Haley's relationship seem like it was the epitome of sisterly love.

"Whatever… Luke! How are you hottie?" Taylor said with a smile walking over and hugging him.

"Great, and yourself." Lucas asked politely. He and Taylor had never really been close, but he didn't have a problem with her.

"Good, thanks. You know seeing you two Scott boys next to each other makes me realize just how lucky little sis is. Although it seems that the other little sis, was a bit more lucky with one, isn't that right Ash?"

Ashley nearly chocked on the eggs she had been stuffing her face with. Nathan had taken a seat next to her, and was now trying to help her breathe again.

"I'm good Nate." Ashley said with a smile as she felt Nathan continue to hit her back.

"Oh, right. Sorry." He said slightly embarrassed. But it was nothing compared to how embarrassed Lucas looked. Nathan was lost, but when he thought about what Taylor had said, the looks on Lucas' and Ashley's face, and the way they had greeted each other, it all made sense.

"You two slept together!" He yelled jumping out of his seat. Ashley pulled him down as Lucas and Taylor joined them in the booth so they were all sitting together.

"No, okay. We never slept together, although that's more than I can say for you two." Ashley said eyeing Nathan and Taylor.

"Yeah, so? Don't act like there was nothing ever going on between you and Lucas. I saw the way the two of you used to look at each other. I mean it makes sense since you're only a year younger than Hales." Taylor said shooting back.

"Hold on." Nathan interrupted before another word could be said. "You can't be younger than Haley. At the wedding reception your parents said that they would move when the last person left the nest. And the last person that left was Haley."

"Yeah Haley was the last person to leave the house. That doesn't mean that she was the youngest, just that she was the last one to leave." Ashley said vaguely.

"Wait, how could a 16 year old leave home?" The only answer Nathan received was blank stares. "Okay, so I did that, but how come Haley never mentioned it before?"

"Did she ever mention Taylor before?" Lucas countered.

"True, but." Nathan started.

"But nothing Nathan." Ashley said with a sharp tone. "I'm younger, case closed." She said getting up and leaving. "Thank you so much for the food Karen. I'll see you all around." She said leaving the café, but not before bumping into someone.

"What did I say?" Nathan asked, completely confused.

"You asked her about her past. Never a good thing." Taylor said, exiting as well.

"What happened in her past?" Nathan asked Lucas.

"Oh, no. I'm not the right person to ask. The only person that can tell you that is Ashley." Lucas said giving Nathan a pat on the shoulder and leaving him with his thoughts.

So there Nathan sat, alone in a booth, thinking about any and everything, but he was interrupted by yelling.

"Well well, if it isn't little Ms. Ashley James. How are you?" Dan Scott asked politely.

"Cut the crap Mr. Scott. We all know that you're one to hold grudges." Ashley said a bit remorsefully.

"Yeah but I'm also one to let secrets slip."

"Go ahead. Everyone here knows."

"Everyone? Dan asked eyeing Nathan, who was watching the scene intently. "Don't worry." He said catching Ashley's look. "Secrets are better revealed by the person themselves. It makes them hurt more."

"Shocking you know all about that." Ashley said leaving the café.

"You can't ever things alone can you?" Karen asked enraged. "Get the hell out of my café Dan."

Dan just smiled and turned to leave. Nathan debated running after him and asking him what the hell was going on, but he realized it would be better to hear from a more reputable source. So he sat there more confused than ever.

I love reviews, and I promise to answer any and every review that I get. So if you have a question, comment, or would like to criticize something please leave me a note in the form of a review. I would love to hear from you!

Reason4life: Thanks so much for the review! I'm glad I caused to branch out in your story choices. You'll have to read on to find out who Ashley ends up with . I hoped you liked this chapter as well.


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